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ABOUT THIS
ISSUE

The theme of this issue might appear to be
food, but we prefer to call it 'eating', particularly food supply and
preparation. We mention some reports such as one published by Canada's
International Development Research Centre a few years ago, which we see as
having a particularly relevant perspective on food and the environment.
Statistics Canada food statistics, some of which are no longer being updated as
freely available publications, presented some interesting data on our eating and
food spending habits. Then in a second editorial, we provide
GallonLetter's take on the benefits of the local food movement. That comes after
an editorial in which we express our dismayy that the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture is asking for a moratorium on windpower in the Province, potentially
undoing much of the progress that the local food movement has made in the last
few years!

In Saskatoon, a non-profit is running what
seems to GallonLetter to be a very worthwhile initiative to help lower income
people acquire and prepare more nutritious meals. We discuss the
potential of Meal Assembly Centres, not just for export, as Agriculture
Canada has done, but also for the Canadian market. We review the role of
consumers in improving the sustainability of food production and processing.
Organic farming mostly uses less energy, according to a Nova Scotia Agricultural
College and York University study. We have a summary of a useful article from
the Organic Center in Colorado on How to Save Money in Order to Buy Organic
Food. The Guelph Organic Conference is to be held in just a few days - we
provide details and a link.

While discussing vegetarian food and the 'back
to the land' movement we came upon the case of a university professor who is
said to have been the first to be fired for his “radical” views. He was
commenting on the use of child labour in coal mining in 1915. Thinking of the
Northern Gateway pipeline, how much progress have we made?

Some processors are promoting corn-fed beef
while others promote grass-fed beef. At least in this issue we provide
information on the benefits of the latter. Canada's Sustainable Development
Commissioner states that "The availability of fish can't be taken for granted."
We look at his report. At least one seafood retailer seems to be doing something
about this.

As part of our focus on food preparation, we
look in this issue at residential energy use and some suggestions on how to cook
in a more energy efficient manner, Some of the advice, for example that
dishwashers use less energy than hand dishwashing, may be counter-intuitive but
GallonLetter suspects they are correct. We will be looking at this area in
greater detail in future issues and, we hope, in a book on Ecological Feeding
and Fooding which is currently in the planning stage.

We applaud British Columbia for its small
appliance recycling program and explore what can and cannot be recycled. When
you think about it, it makes a lot of sense, and we hope to see more added soon.
In our opinion there are few if any in the way of durable household goods made
of metal that should not be included in this recycling initiative. Have you
thought about the food safety benefits of retailer loyalty programs? The Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture has done - we bring you their idea! Did you know that a
rainbow trout casserole prepared for a school lunch probably has a lower carbon
footprint than the same dish prepared as a ready to eat meal or, worse, prepared
at home! Thinking about the ecological impact of our meals puts school lunches
in a whole new light! Pineridge Foods is one Canadian baker that is looking at
its environmental sustainability - we summarize their presentation.

We also note the Ontario Environmental
Commissioner's recent report - we will return to this theme of biodiversity, and
particularly the business role in supporting biodiversity, in a future issue.
The Energy, Utility and Environment Conference is being held in the US next week
- GallonLetter's editor Colin Isaacs will be speaking at the Conference on the
theme of corporate social responsibility, another topic that is covered in
GallonLetter from time to time. We hope to see you at the Conference. We end
this issue with our usual funny (or strange story) - this one about a proposed
long pig registry. Go figure!

Our next issue will include a listing of
Environmental Awards for Canadian Companies and Organizations. If your
organization offers an award that we might miss, please send details to
editor@gallonletter.ca Meanwhile we hope you enjoy this issue and invite you to
comment or criticize, or send suggestions not necessarily for publication,
through letters to the Editor at editor@gallonletter.ca This issue is a little longer than usual - good value
for money and, we hope, a good read for dark evenings - we think that feeding
and fooding is probably as important to our environmental health as just about
any other topic! Have a great New Year!

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ONTARIO
FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE MAKES WRONG-HEADED MOVE

As this issue of Gallon Environment Letter
goes to press, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture has announced that it is
calling on the Ontario Government to implement a moratorium on wind turbines in
the Province. The organization, which claims to represent 38,000 farmers in
Ontario, making it the largest farm organization in the Province, claims the
following problems with what have become called 'industrial wind
turbines':

Price paid for wind power

Inefficiency of wind power – it can’t be
stored for use during peak demand periods

Setback issues and induced currents

Health and nuisance issues

Removal of municipal input from industrial
wind turbine projects

GallonLetter is dismayed but not surprised by
the position of the OFA. The organization frequently opposes environmental
initiatives and makes claims about how much its members care about the
environment when the evidence from field observations is that some Ontario
farmers periodically break rules designed to protect neighbours, the
environment, and animal welfare. Evidence from the countryside suggests that the
environment is among the lowest of the farm organization's
priorities.

Unfortunately, no one is going to win the
battle that the farm organization has joined. Some of the claims made by the OFA
are clearly spurious; others are unscientific. Instead of seeking to resolve the
conflicts between those who want Ontario to become a leader in wind power and
those who have concerns about nearby turbines, the OFA has chosen to join one
side of the battle. There is no doubt that the Ontario government contributed
significantly to the problem by implementing a green energy program that removed
local control of siting decisions but stopping all wind power development in the
province is not the solution to that issue.

Polls show that an overwhelming majority of
Ontarians support wind power in the province. Far more want wind power than are
committed to local food. If the OFA wants the environmental community in the
province to implement a boycott of food from Ontario Federation of Agriculture
member farmers it is certainly going in a direction which may well end up
with that.

Colin Isaacs

Editor

Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.

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EATING
SUSTAINABLY: BEYOND THE MOUTHFUL

Biologist Edward O. Wilson wrote that the
world’s food supply relies on a “slender thread of biodiversity” - most of the
food supply is from corn, wheat and rice. He warned that "The race is now on
between the technoscientific forces that are destroying the living environment
and those that can be harnessed to save it. We are inside a bottleneck of
overpopulation and wasteful consumption. If the race is won, humanity can emerge
in far better condition that when it entered, and with most of the diversity of
life still intact." More consumers in developed countries such as Canada are
thinking more about their food choices but the race to improve the food chain
system sometimes seems to have barely started.

At least a billion people in the world have
barely enough to keep from starving. Their food supply may be limited but it
doesn’t mean they aren’t trying. There is a marvellous book published by
Canada’s IDRC showing how much skill and knowledge people apply to eating
uncultivated plants. One chapter shows how poor people in Bangladesh find, pick
and cook uncultivated food sources, in what seasons and for different purposes
such as nutrition and medicine. This gives the reader an insight into the kind
of knowledge that might be very useful to the rest of us sometime.

It has been estimated that, for Canada, about
13% of total residential energy use is for food cooking and storage. It might be
reasonable to suggest that householders focus more on reducing energy in other
areas such as space heating, but restricting the view to residential energy use
gives a poor picture of the overall energy, climate, biodiversity and
environmental impact of eating.

More householders eat pre-prepared food and
spend time away from home. Much of our food storage and preparation energy is
therefore used in offices, restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, schools, and
holiday resorts. Much of the energy and environmental impacts of food occur
before the householder eats the food and afterwards such as in landfills and
sewage treatment plants. Actions such as recycling and composting keep material
out of landfill which generate methane gas, one of the more potent gases causing
climate change.

Chapter 7: Biodiversity and the Technology of
Cooking: Uncultivated foods and the technology of cooking in Farhad Mazhar,
Daniel Buckles, P.V. Satheesh, and Farida Akhter. Food Sovereignty and
Uncultivated Biodiversity in South Asia: Essays on the Poverty of Food Policy
and the Wealth of the Social Landscape. Academic Foundation/IDRC International
Development Research Centre, 2007. http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-110412-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

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STATISTICS
CANADA: FOOD EXPENDITURE

In 2001, frozen pre-cooked dinners and baked
goods accounted for 31 cents of every dollar spent on ‘other foods, materials
and food preparations’. That compares with 26 cents in 1996. People are also
spending their food dollars differently in other ways. For example, more
households than ever began buying yogurt. The percentage of households that
purchased yogurt jumped from 9% in 1996 to 22% in 2001.

In 2001, 30 cents of the food dollar was spent
on restaurant meals with 70 cents spent in stores compared to restaurant
spending of 25 cents out of each food dollar two decades ago. In 2001,
households spent an average of almost $38 a week in restaurants and $86 on food
purchased in stores. Single males spent more eating out.

Supermarkets:
Giant Share of Food Dollar

More than 80 cents of every food dollar spent
in stores in 2001 was spent in supermarkets. Specialty food stores,
convenience stores and other types of stores such as department stores or drug
stores were well behind, with less than 10 cents each of that dollar. Direct
purchases from farmers and other producers is included in food speciality store
which also includes bakeries, butcher shops, and health food
stores.

Supermarkets are great for supplying a large
portion of the grocery list but rely heavily on the extensive links of
globalization. Since the economic crisis, more researchers are reporting on the
uncertainty caused by the dense connections of globalization because almost
nobody knows what crisis could be next if some of those links are cut by natural
or human-caused events. What if there is a flu epidemic which closes the borders
to vegetable and other food imports or if there is a nation-wide strike at one
of the big food chains. The risk is high that the many households could run
short of food.

Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.

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FOOD SECURITY:
LOCAL FOOD

In many respects, the Buy Local Food campaigns
are more a sustainability issue than purely an environmental issue, more about
food security and local economic development, though the environment is also
important. The idea being that as well as reducing some of the food miles, if
you know where the food comes from you can also see at least to some extent how
environmentally sound the farm or supplier practices are. Shopping locally, for
example, allows for more effective use of returnable and reusable packaging.
Hewitt's, a local dairy here in Haldimand, bottles for Harmony Organic and sells
organic milk in both cartons and bottles. It makes sense to use bottles, which
are much heavier than cartons, when they have to travel only very short
distances and are reused again and again.

Large supermarkets and the big box retail and
drug stores now selling food are often so large that small local producers
cannot sell to them because of the distribution systems. The economies of scale
of the large chains often means the demise of local grocers, bakers and
butchers. Although it is likely that, if the international food distribution
system is disrupted for any reason, the local food supply would not be able to
ramp up fast enough to feed all those who rely on the big stores, local food
producers and processors, abattoirs, bakers, fruit growers, juice makers and so
on could make a difference. Even so, local food may not always be seen as
advantageous. For example, in Japan, where local food and seasonal specialities
are valued, last year's tsunami and resulting radioactive leaks, caused people
to regard local fresh produce, fish and other food from near the radiation zone
with suspicion. Even famous restaurants in Tokyo suffered from lack of customers
as a result of fears of contamination.

Even when food is local, processing for that
food in Canada is in decline. GallonLetter's editor used to buy beef direct
from a local farmer in the Hamilton area. The farm partner and the customers
went to the butcher to say how the meat was to be cut and then we wrapped it and
labelled it ourselves for fast freezing for later pickup. Lots of questions were
answered there, some gave insight into how this family farmed and some were
amusing e.g. a couple of young guys wanted to know what a steer was and got a
quick answer from the matter-of-fact farm woman. But then the butcher became big
and the small scale farmer could no longer find a place to have the few
cows/steers butchered. Since then we have bought most of our meat (beef, lamb,
pork, and chicken) from Tony and Fran McQuail who farm organically using a
concept called holistic management in Lucknow, not exactly local but still in
Ontario. [If you are in Ontario and interested in buying somewhat local organic
meat, they are at www.meetingplaceorganicfarm.ca ]

More money stays local if consumers shop more
directly, at smaller outlets or at larger stores which offer local food
products. Otherwise, knowledge and resources such as land, equipment, and
skilled labour for growing, storing, preserving, processing and cooking local
foods may be lost. Crops and livestock adapted to the local area are replaced by
mass market versions. If diseases or pests attack what has become a
near-monoculture, the genetic resources which could replace the loss may no
longer be available to cross-breed a more resistant wheat or sheep, for
example.

Colin Isaacs

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CHEP: THE GOOD
FOOD BOX

Large stores are often regionally located
making them less accessible to walkers and cyclists. Studies in the US show
millions of people live in "food deserts" making it difficult for poor or less
mobile people to buy from other than convenience stores where the food is less
healthy and more expensive. In Saskatoon a non-profit organization, CHEP, is one
of a number of initiatives doing something about this.

The Good Food Box is an alternative food
distribution initiative which packs up to 2000 boxes a month. The goals
are:

Improving access to great food

Encouraging healthy eating choices

Building community

Providing nutrition information

Supporting local farmers and advocating for a
sustainable food system

Food security for all is the overall goal.
Food Security is "defined as a situation both globally and locally in
which:

Everyone has assured access to adequate,
appropriate, safe and personally acceptable food in a way that promotes
health, respect and dignity

People are able to earn a living wage by
growing, producing, processing, handling, retailing and serving food

The quality of land, air, and water is
maintained and enhanced for future generation

Food is celebrated as central to community
and cultural integrity.

Seven different types and sizes of boxes are
offered. Examples are:

A basic box of 10 different kinds of fruits
and veggies in larger quantities and one dry item such as pasta or soup mix
for $24.00

A Snack Pack which is a bag of ready-to-eat
single servings of fruits, vegetables and a seed mixture.

A Sunshine box which runs from August to
November for $30. The items are selected from those grown in Saskatchewan with
a list of where the item came from and how it was grown.

Orders and payment are due in advance, food
comes in a returnable plastic container and "Contents change according to season, quality, price,
availability of foods, and input from the community."

Collective
Kitchens

The CHEP program also offers collective
kitchens, usually kitchens in schools and churches. The cost depends on the size
of the family, the type of food cooked and childcare with matching funds by the
Collective Kitchen Partnership. Participants improve their cooking skills, make
connections to the community by helping each other, and build self-sufficiency.
Training is offered on such topics as food safety, healthy eating, leadership,
cooking for diabetics, how to use recipes, canning workshops, bread-making,
canning and freezing, bulk buying, cooking legumes, cooking in large quantities
and grocery store tours. The program includes a Grub and Gab supper and
discussion forum which is free and discusses food issues.

GallonLetter notes that in some families or
neighbourhoods communal cooking is traditional. A feature of a trip on the
Dempster Highway in the Yukon/Northwest Territories is to see the native
people in camps on the spectacular Mackenzie River gathered to fish and dry
fish. Families and community groups everywhere often share equipment and skills
to make foods in large batches to share amongst various families such as ravioli
or pierogis, cabbage rolls, sauerkraut or kimchi, cookies or
sausages.

In 2007, an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
report identified a new concept which had grown since its launch in 2002, when
the first Dream Dinners outlet opened in the United States. The Super Suppers
franchise opened its first outlet in 2003 and a number of other companies are
mentioned in the report. Meal Assembly Centres help consumers make freezer and
oven-ready meals ready in bulk at one time. Consumers choose meal options and
can have the options prepared for them or come in and prepare the meals
themselves. The ingredients are made ready at each station and the consumer
follows the recipe. They can add more or less spice, add or omit ingredients.
The cooking instructions are then attached to the food packaging, which is
minimal and the consumers switch stations to prepare the next meal. The staff
clean up and the consumer takes home the set of meals for freezing. All the
entrees can be cooked within half an hour at home usually in one pot or the
aluminum tray the food is made on.

Some grocery stores have meal preparation
centres, which can be adapted to consumer interest in organic, low sodium, low
sugar, low fat, whole grain, whole fibre, gourmet and so on. Some centres also
support special dietary needs such as gluten and lactose free. Interests such as
locally grown would restrict Canadian access to US meal assembly
centres.

Many of the meal assembly chains use large
distributors so they might not be so close to home cooking; many of the recipes
use already processed foods such as canned soups. It is possible that such meal
assembly centres could have environmental benefits by centralizing shopping,
preparation and cleanup, and reducing the amount of pots and water use at home.
When asked why they didn't just buy frozen food, some consumers say that they
liked knowing more about what is in the food, leaving out ingredients not liked
and being able to say they made the meal (even if in essence they didn't really
do much cooking).

Households
Have Decreased Scratch Home Meal Preparation

The report, which is primarily about export
opportunities, also talks about some of the data available about Canadian
consumers:

Although 80% of meals are prepared and eaten
at home, one third of these meals are ready to eat or frozen foods.

By 5:45pm each day, 70% of consumers making
dinner don't know what they are going to eat.

GallonLetter wonders if in some households,
fresh produce is ever served. GallonLetter's partner used to go for a day to the
booth of The Ecological Farmers of Ontario at the Norfolk Fair. Adults,
teenagers and children of all ages would try to name the vegetables in a basket
(organic but that wasn't essential to the game). They were keen enough to try
but many just couldn't do it. The vegetables weren't exotic: cucumbers, carrots,
cabbage, onions, potatoes, tomatoes but it was a real challenge for many of the
people that stopped in a day. The idea that students could be in high school and
not be able to identify basic foods was a shock at first. One year a four year
old won the contest; he was stuck on the purple onion until his mother said,
"The colour is different but it is the vegetable that makes you cry when you cut
it." His mother said the child helped out in the kitchen.

Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.

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EATERS SHOULD
TAKE MORE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT THEY EAT

In an article in Science in May 2011, U.S.
farmers, ranchers and scientists wrote that buyers of food have a big role to
play in the necessary implementation of more sustainable agricultural systems.
Farms grow food but farms and the rest of the food chain are a major
contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity, natural resource
loss and public health problems. The paper describes the 2010 report by the US
National Research Council which identifies already existing alternative farming
systems and which calls for "both incremental and transformative changes to
address the many challenges of the future." The current industrial agricultural
systems are not sustainable.

Transformative changes include "the
development of new farming systems that represent a dramatic departure from the
dominant systems of present-day American agriculture and capitalize on synergies
and efficiencies associated with complex natural systems and broader social and
economic forces using integrative approaches to research and extension at both
the farm and landscape levels. Examples
include development and broad adoption of water conserving production systems in
areas of water shortage and overdraft, landscape-scale reduction of nutrient and other materials runoff from
agricultural lands that contributes to major
hypoxic zones, and assessment of the potential and cost for broad adoption of
alternative animal production systems that
address many environmental and social concerns of some dominant production
systems."

The problem is not the shortage of
technologies, as many examples of innovative alternative agriculture practices
already exist, but the structure of the agri-food industry which relies on high
volume, low cost feed, food and fuel with farmers restricted by contracts to
supply to large consolidated food companies. The lifestyle of consumers is
dependent on these systems which have "contributed to a national obesity and
health crisis." Most agricultural policies are not designed for sustainability.
Developing countries can learn from the US so that they can avoid the problems
of the industrialized agricultural system. The US and developed world can learn
from the developing countries about sustainable farming practices.

Consumer
Demand

Consumers are already changing the system by
demanding more socially and environmentally responsible food including animal
welfare, ecosystem protection, worker safety and conservation. Examples of
expanded demand include the US Department of Agriculture Certified Organic
label, local, organic, and grass-fed livestock. The authors suggest that
consumers could do much more to drive public policy to support farms which
achieve sustainability goals and to change the marketplace.

Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.

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NATURAL STEP
CANADA: THINKING BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE KITCHEN

A guide produced by The Co-operators and
Natural Step Canada encourages homeowners to take steps towards sustainability
by thinking of the home as part of the greater system of community and the
environment. For example, reducing waste means that less goes to the landfill
which may then not need to be expanded at great expense to the
taxpayers.

Householders are asked to think about things
by answering questions each one of which has some guidance on what to consider.
First steps relate to identifying goals and taking stock on a whole house basis
and then each room gets attention. The bigger system view is also to be
considered. Specific to the kitchen are:

How and where was this item produced? Advice
includes joining a food co-ops or other sources of locally grown and
sustainably produced meat, dairy and poultry. Fresh food in season is good for
local economies, cuts down on packaging, fuel use for transport and "you know
where it came from."

Shopping. What am I supporting by making this
purchase? "Every time we use our wallets, we are voting with our dollar. Does
this company share your values? Have they made a commitment to being more
sustainable? If you don't know, do some research to find out.”

How can I reduce use of this utility? Advice
includes optimizing temperature setting for the refrigerator and freezer.
loading the dishwasher and only running when full and buying Energy Star
appliances.

How will this affect my health? Avoid
non-stick coatings such as Teflon and toxic offgassing from coated pizza boxes
and microwave bags. Cookware of stainless steel, glass or cast-iron is
safer.

Waste. Is there a better way to dispose of
waste. Compost organics, don't use a garburator. Use reusable shopping bags,
line only one trash can with compostable or degradable bag and use that for
wet garbage. Buy bulk. Avoid bottled water.

GallonLetter lauds the thinking about the home
and its people as a system which in turn is also part of a system. For example,
it should encourage people to be more aware of how where they live and how their
circumstances affect their impacts on the environment. For example, BC Hydro
reminds residents that they can use as much as half of the quantity of
detergents than is commonly recommended by the manufacturer if they live in a
soft water area e.g. Metro Vancouver. Of all the kitchen appliances, if there is
an appliance to choose first to upgrade to the highest energy efficiency it is
the refrigerator because it runs 24 hours a day.

Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.

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ORGANIC
FARMING MOSTLY USES LESS ENERGY

Three Canadian professors doing research in
organic agriculture reviewed 130 studies to compare farm-level energy use and
the Global Warming Potential GWP of organic and conventional production sectors.
They concluded that on a whole farm basis, organic farming uses less energy on a
per hectare and per farm product basis, with possible exceptions for poultry and
fruit sectors. For GWP, evidence is insufficient except that results per hectare
are better for organic farming than GWP per unit product. Organic farms are less
likely to be able to use energy offsets such as biogas, energy crops and biomass
residues because they need the biomass to build soil.

Farm use of energy in the total food chain is
estimated to be 35%. Organic farms show 20% improvement in energy efficiency
compared to non-organic farms reducing total food chain energy use by 7% or
more. Wholesale/retail activities in the food chain including cooling, packaging
and processing require 30% or more of the total food system energy. So other
means of reducing energy include reducing food waste, processing and
packaging.

The 31st Annual Guelph Organic Conference:
Seeds of Co-operation, will be held January 26-29, 2012 at the Guelph University
Centre, Guelph Ontario.

This midwinter event is intended for
traders. farmers, gardeners, researchers, me and media. Eaters are welcome too
as organic food is for sale, samples for tasting are available and the cafeteria
offers an organic meal. The two day weekend trade show and expo is free to the
public. The 34 workshop program is fee-based but the fees are very reasonable.
Topics include building local organic value chains using a co-op model, Organic
Council Ontario focus on youth and social media, organic seeds, organic
livestock, grow your own organic mushrooms on logs, forest gardens,
an1equipment for small farms.

The Organic Center (Boulder, Colorado) advises
consumers on how to save money overall with the goal of buying more organic
food. They ask consumers to vote with their dollar to keep organic in the
stores. Among the 10 tips are:

How to Make Organic Choices: even if it is
too expensive or if organic options aren't available, buy organic some of the
time e.g. 80% organic 20% other or buy organic for food used 80% of the time
and non-organic for food used only 20% of the time e.g. organic milk for
breakfast but non-organic orange
juice.

Buy in season.

Shop around. Do price comparisons; sometimes
the organic food is not much different in price from conventional.

Grow your own. Herbs in a window box or in a
balcony container are a great way to start organic food growing. The tips
provide a link to learning kitchen gardening.

Farmers markets. Ask the vendors whether they
have any seconds which they are willing to sell at lower cost.

Buy generic. Large supermarket chains have
their own organic products.

Buy bulk. Bulk bins allow you to buy a small
amount if that is all you need. And that is a better way to buy herbs and
spices. Bulk often reduces packaging. GallonLetter thinks this might be an
innovative idea because usually when people think of buying bulk they think of
buying larger quantities not less, not economical if the food is wasted. One
parent's observation was that buying a couple of dozen butter tarts sold in
bulk at a lower price per tart wasn't economical because his teenage son would
scarf them all down no matter how many there were.

Join a CSA. In Community Supported
Agriculture CSA, eaters pay for the season's crop in advance and then share in
the harvest with the farmer. CSA shareholders can sometimes work on the farm
to reduce the share price.

Cook. Eating out and prepared foods cost
more.

Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.

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THE VEGETARIAN
GOOD LIFE

Helen and Scott Nearing moved from Manhattan
to the country first to Vermont in 1932 and then to a farm in Harbourside, Maine
in 1952. Admirers came from all over to talk, eat and work with these two
back-to-the-landers who wrote 50 books, among the most famous being "Living the
Good life" and "Continuing the Good Life". Scott died in 1983 at the age of 100
and Helen at 91 when she hit a tree while driving a car.

In her book Simple Food for the Good Life,
Helen Nearing had some advice which includes, "the universal rule for good
cooking might well be: have fresh things of the highest quality, prepared as
simply as possible, and cooked at the last moment so nothing sits around long.
...The simpler the food, the better the rawer, the better; the fewer mixtures,
the better. This way of eating involves less preparation, less cooking, easier
digestion, more food value, better health and more money saved. "

Recently Canada’s Natural Resources Minister
called domestic and American environmental groups “radical” for participating in
the Northern Gateway Pipeline consultations while he found it
perfectly acceptable to have foreign and domestic oil companies participate. In
that context, Scott Nearing was fired from the University of Pennsylvania (not
the same as Penn State) for his "radical" views in 1915.

He was an economics professor who deplored the
economic inequalities in America and committed to making a contribution not only
to the students and the University but society at large. More specifically he
objected to use of child labour in coal mining. The university president fired
him because coal mining executives on the University’s Board didn’t like to be
criticized. Nearing is said to have been the first university professor fired
for his “radical” views. Apparently he was regarded by many as brilliant and his
situation is credited with fuelling a long discussion on the need for tenure to
protect academic freedom from political and corporate interference. GallonLetter
hopes that the NRCAN’s Minister attack will also fuel a discussion that the
environmental view will also gain a kind of tenure so that governments cannot
dismiss environmental protection due to political and corporate interests.

Paid subscribers see link to
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FORAGE FINISHED
BEEF

Manitoba Forage Council is
promoting grass-fed beef which is said to be high in omega-3 and conjugated
linoleic acid, both said to have health properties. Advantages of animals
spending most of their time on pasture rather than a feedlot are said to
include:

reduced runoff of manure into
waterways.

avoided costs associated with
manure storage and cleanup.

A production protocol assures
those in the food chain that the cattle meet the specifications such as:

Each animal has an
identification tag from birth and various records kept along the way. Animals
must have an ultrasound to determine fat and other features before entering
the next step in the food chain.

The diet is to be 100%
combination of grass and legumes. During the growing season, it would be from
pasture and during the winter can be from stored forage.

No starch such as cereal grains,
or potato waste may be fed.

Calves stay on mother's milk at
least 60 days.

Oil seeds and oil seed
by-products such as meal and oil can be fed.

No growth hormones, no
antibiotics, no animal by-products.

Farm must be inspected during
the production period.

GallonLetter notes that if the
program increases the land in pasture and if the number of animals on the
pasture is not too high, depending on other management practices there could be
a positive effect on biodiversity as compared to growing corn and other grain
crops to feed the cattle. Grassland birds are among those most seriously at risk
in parts of Canada.

Paid subscribers see link to
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here.

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CESD: CHAPTER
ON SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES

Canada's Commissioner of the Environment and
Sustainable Development Scott Vaughan this year audited the marine capture
fishery in Canada including First Nations, commercial and recreational users but
not inland fishing or aquaculture.

Fish stock may vary naturally or otherwise.
For example in 2009 the Pacific salmon run in the Fraser River was dismal, only
1.9 million sockeye represented a continued downward trend and much lower than
the 10 million predicted by the Pacific Salmon Commission. Then in 2010, the run
in the Fraser River was over 34 million sockeye, the highest number since 1913.
Before European arrival the numbers of sockeye were thought to be over 100
million. The increase in 2010 doesn't mean the stock is now going to bumper
numbers. The CESD says that Canada committed to using the precautionary approach
for fisheries management by signing the United Nations Agreement on Straddling
and Highly Migratory Stock for managing these kinds of stocks and in essence
also for managing domestic stocks.

The study outlines key properties of
sustainable fisheries. Properties are divided into four categories:
environmental, economic, social and organizational. As well as limits on
harvesting based on ecological limits not only for targeted species but
non-targeted speies and the application of a precautionary approach if there is
uncertainty about the stock, the ecosystem itself whcre the fishery operates
must not be allowed to degrade over the long term. The harvest limits are
adjusted if external factors affect the health of the stock.

Eco-certification of fisheries is both a
positive and negative. Generally it would be a good sign if a fishery can
demonstrate it meets the criteria needed to get certification. Ecocertification
is also a complication for managing fisheries. Certification is expensive for
fisheries managers and fishers and if it becomes a requirement to obtain access
to the market, it can be a hindrance. The Marine Stewardship Council certifies
18 Canadian fisheries and 130 fisheries globally.

Vaughan asked in his winter report "Will fish
continue to be available in the future to provide the food and jobs on which
many people have come to rely? The availability of fish can't be taken for
granted."

Paid subscribers see link to
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here.

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LOBLAW:
SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD

Loblaws Inc. has committed to "ensure that all
of the wild and farm-raised seafood and fish in our stores is sustainably
sourced by the end of 2013." Steps include:

removing species that are at risk. e.g.
instead of Chilean Sea Bass, offering Pacific Halibut or Sablefish

increasing the number of Marine Stewardship
Council MSC-certified President's Choice and Seaquest products

Working with WWF and other groups to source
more sustainable seafood.

The leaflet promoting the initiative in the
stores says, "By taking these steps we're becoming a more responsible retailer
and we're giving our customers the option to choose sustainably sourced seafood.
We want to be your number one seafood destination....Get on board with
us."

The stores left some of their seafood display
trays empty to show consumers that some fish species which used to be for sale
are no longer offered for sale.

Paid subscribers see link to
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here.

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ENERGY USE IN
THE HOME

The latest energy data published by Natural
Resources Canada show that residential energy use increased by 14% from
1990-2008. Total residential floor space has increased by 46% while the total
increase in households is 33%. The energy use would be even higher were it not
for energy efficiency.

If homeowners think only about energy, then
the most effective steps to take are to reduce space heating which accounts for
62.8% of residential household energy use. Water heating is next at 17.5% and
appliances at 13.9%. There has been a decline of 15.6% in the residential energy
use attributable to major appliances and a 149.9% increase in the energy use of
other appliances including televisions, video cassette recorders, digital video
disc players, radios, computers and toasters. Lighting is 5.0% and space
cooling, which has increased by 118.8%, is still only 1.6% of total residential
energy use.

Energy for food includes many of the energy
uses of the home which are not easily allocated: space heating for a place to
cook and eat, water use for cleaning the kitchen and eating space, ditto for
lighting, even energy for major appliances may not always be for food use
although oven, range, microwave, refrigerator and freezer (if one is in the
house) probably are. The old extra beer frig in the basement is often the target
for recycling advertisements by hydro companies.

Paid subscribers see link to
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NRCAN: TIPS ON
USE OF THE COOKING APPLIANCES

Tips to save energy and money on cooking by
Natural Resources Canada include:

Consider buying a self cleaning oven. Even
though self-cleaning takes energy, these ovens are better insulated so they
maintain better temperatures. Clean only when needed and right after cooking
as the heat already in the oven reduces the total energy needed for the
self-cleaning.

Buy a smaller oven if you can. Smaller ovens
generally take less energy.

Read the owners manual for ranges, cooktops
and ovens to see if there are operating instructions which can save energy.
GallonLetter notes that if you can't find the owners manual, many
manufacturers have online manuals if you provide the model number.

Preheating is usually necessary only for
baking and even then ten minutes of preheating is enough.

Turn off the oven a few minutes before the
cooking is done as the residual heat will cook the rest.

Don't open the oven door too often as each
time as much as 20% of the heat escapes.

Use the right material for the the cooktop
e.g. aluminum is no good for halogen induction elements.

Use pots that are flat so that the bottoms
make good contact with the cooking element.

Don't cook food longer than needed. Check
with a thermometer.

Turn down the heat. Once the pot comes to a
boil turn down the heat to a simmer: the food will cook just as fast.

Check the seals on the oven door, If a piece
of paper stuck in between falls out, the seals need replacing or if you put a
flashlight inside a cold oven and can see the light around the edges, ditto. A
similar test should be done on seals of refrigerators and
freezersl

Choosing different options for
cooking:

Avoid using the oven for small quantities:
the stovetop, toaster oven or microwave oven are more energy efficient.

If the oven has a convection option, ie hot
air is blown around the food, use that option as it reduces cooking time by up
to 30%.

Paid subscribers see link to
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here.

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US:
FOOD-RELATED ENERGY

A US review of energy use changes from 1997 to
2002 indicate that food-related energy use has increased at the rate of six
times the rate of increase in total US energy use. Food related energy use is
expected to continue to increase. Reason include substituting energy to replace
labour in the food chain, population growth, more outsourcing of manual work at
the family level, more use of food suppliers such as restaurants for preparation
and cleanup,and more expenditure on food per capita. Many of these are due to
increased affluence. Food waste has also increased. The food chain stretches
from agriculture, processing, packaging, transportation, whole/retail,
foodservice and household.

Agriculture has replaced labour with machinery
and more use of agricultural chemicals, increasing both direct farm energy use
and of energy for the production of farm inputs. Transport distances have
increased. Energy use per truck mile has increased while energy per freight car
rail has decreased.

As in Canada, the amount of time individuals
spend on cooking and cleaning at home has been reduced sharply. Calorie intake
from the 1970s to the mid-1990s for away-from-home food increased from 18% to
32%.

The report describes the chain for a packaged
salad. The consumer part of the chain may involve travelling to the grocery
store by car, refrigerating the salad mix, using dishes and utensils which are
washed in a dishwasher all adding electricity use to the count. Leftover salad
may be ground in garbage compactor or disposed to a landfill.

The salad is one of 45,000 different products
available in a supermarket store, each with a different energy profile. There
are an estimated 140,000 retail food and beverage stores in the US and 537,000
food and beverage service establishments, also each with a different energy
profile. Each of these establishments stores, prepare, cleans and disposes of
food as do other establishments such as sports arenas, schools, hospitals and
other facilities involved in food-related activities.

Cooking
Appliances/transport: Energy Portion

Estimates for 2002 food-related household
electricity which accounts for 26% of total household electricity use
are:

Figures are also given for natural gas and
propane cooking. The assumption was that 1
in 7 shopping miles are food related resulting in food-related transport
accounting for 2% of household vehicle miles. This may be an
underestimation.

Product
Mix

How much people buy and what people buy
affects the energy. For example, changes in consumer budgets for processed
dairy, processed fruits, meats (beef, pork and other meats) and vegetables
reduced energy flows in the food chain for those products while increases in
spending on frozen, canned, snacks, alcoholic beverages, pet food, and food away
from home increased the energy flow. The increase in food-related energy use
would have been higher but for this changed product mix and allocation of the
food budget.. The changes reduced the increase by 20%.

Paid subscribers see link to
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****************************************************

SOBEYS: GREEN
COOKING TIPS

The supermarket chain Sobey's provides Green
Cooking Tips including:

Keep appliances clean. If the microwave oven
contains spills, energy is used for heating the spill as well as the food.
Dirt on the stovetop also means less heat to the pot.

Different containers in the oven transmit
heat differently. For example, glass or ceramic ware need 10 deg C (25 deg F)
less heat to cook food in the same time.

Use the dishwasher. Energy efficient
dishwashers use less water and energy than hand dish washing. Run a full load
and in off-peak hours.

GallonLetter notes that in areas such as in
Ontario where we have smart meters, dishwashing off-peak hours which is after
7pm and before 7am on weekdays and all day on holidays and weekends, also saves
money while reducing peak load on the power generation system.

Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.

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UNPLUGGED: BC
SMALL APPLIANCE RECYCLING PROGRAM

Since October 2011, residents of British
Columbia have been able to drop off more than 120 small appliances at over 100
locations in the province. The Unplugged program under the Canadian Electrical
Stewardship Association is the first Canadian small appliance recycling program
expecting to recycle two million small appliances a year which used to go to
landfill. The press release says the scrap will be processed in Western Canada,
separated into different materials with the metal smelted, glass and plastic
sorted and sold for reuse. GallonLetter sure hopes that this means that this
material which includes counter-top microwave oven doesn't end up dumped
overseas. New products will have a recycling fee applied. There are 14 different
categories including garment car, air treatment, floor cleaning, personal care,
time measurement and even small items such as air fresheners.

The length of the list just of small
appliances used in the kitchen might be a little surprise for our readers. Maybe
next time there is an electrical gadget to buy, we all will ask the question,
"Does our home really need this and will we use it enough to justify the
environmental impact?" Maybe like giving puppies when it hasn't been determined
yet that the family can commit to a pet, it should be a faux pas to give
electrical appliances as gifts unless specially asked for.

In November 2011, the Canadian Appliance
Manufacturers Association and the Retail Council of Canada released a draft for
major appliance stewardship. to comply with The BC Recycling Regulation (B.C.
Reg. 449/2004 – the “Regulation”) under the Environmental Management Act which
comes into effect July 2012. Among the appliances specific to food preparation,
storage and food cleanup are:

Cooking Appliances: Includes gas or electric
ovens and ranges with gas or electric cook tops, warming drawers, built in cook tops, and
over-the-range microwave ovens with or without hood vent combinations and ventilating range
hood

Dishwashers: Includes free standing or built
in electric powered dishwashers

Food Waste Disposers: Includes electrically
powered devices attached to drain that mechanically crush food waste and discharge it into a
household drain

Most grocery retail chains now offer loyalty
cards to customers as a way of offering discounts and encouraging them to shop
at their stores. The retailer benefits by obtaining data on what consumers
purchase.

Recent foodborne illness outbreaks in the
United States have uncovered another benefit to loyalty cards. When someone gets
food poisoning tracing the food source cause can be a big challenge. Most people
cannot remember everything they consumed in the previous weeks to being sick. By
getting permission from those who were sick, trace out teams were able to access
their grocery purchasing data from their loyalty card accounts. The result was
finding common purchases across several sick individual’s accounts and quick
identification of the food product causing the problem. This new tool has not
been utilized yet in Canada but it is good to know we have a new method for
discovery if faced with a foodborne illness outbreak.

The variables in ingredients, geography,
distances, agricultural practices, processing, packaging and transport are just
a few factors which make analyzing the environmental impacts of dinner
complicated. Many studies focus on one ingredient or product. An innovative
approach is a study of the carbon footprint of the Finnish food sector using a
typical Finnish lunch plate consisting of half vegetables, one quarter protein
and one quarter carbohydrates. Interpretation of these and all life cycle
assessments depend on various elements including the system boundary which
specifies what is considered and what is not

Comparisons were made for the standard plate
prepared at home, in public food service and for an industrially prepared ready
meal. The home and ready meal servings were standardized for 740 kcal and the
school lunches were the actual size. Finns apparently eat a lot of ready meals
with home prepared meals more common more on weekends than weekdays. The impact
of a standard plate depend on raw materials and production process.

A single lunch portion varied between 570g and
3.8 kg of CO2 e (carbon dioxide equivalent). Salad (150 g portion) grown in a
greenhouse had a carbon footprint of over 600g CO2e and a salad made from field
ingredients ranged from 130g to 370g CO2e. For the average plate, about 70% of
the CO2e was due to production of the raw materials on the farm. For vegetarian
lunch plate, the farming share was between 30-50%. Waste and water use weren't
studied.

The conclusions of the study are that
eco-foods, better for human health and the environment, should
include

vegetarian meals

vegetables grown outside and preserved or
stored for the winter but with greater emphasis on seasonal food

fruits

pulses (e.g. beans, peas, lentils)

meat from a production system with lower
impact on the carbon balance

school food integrated with environmental
education and food sustainability

groups of consumers encouraging public
facilities such as schools to make better food choices

The lowest carbon footprint lunch plate was a
school-made vegetable macaroni casserole with a close second a homemade broad
bean (fava bean) patty with mashed potato. The lowest to highest carbon
footprint for rainbow trout cassorole was school, ready to eat and home. Minced
beef meat-macaroni cassorole made at home had almost double the CO2e compared to
the other foods.

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HOME-COOKED,
SEMI-PREPARED VS INDUSTRIALLY PROCESSED FOOD

Another older Scandanavian study on meals
looked at broader environmental impacts besides climate change and came to
similar conclusions: home cooked doesn't automatically reduce environmental
impacts. Comparing food requires a vast number of parameters.

The meal was meatballs with potatoes, bread,
carrots and milk, a common meal in Sweden. It can be home-made, purchased frozen
or semi-prepared (chilled fried meatballs with mashed potato powder). It was
assumed that the meal was consumed on the day it was made or purchased so home
storage was not counted. The study didn't analyze other aspects of meal
preparation such as taste, nutritional quality, cultural or social values such
as making something traditional for the family.

The conclusions would vary with different
meals but the differences between this meal in its three versions (home made,
semi-prepared, industrially processed) were small. Most of the impact was due to
agriculture which accounted for 30% of the energy impact and 95% of
eutrophication (the other 5% is sewage treatment and transport). Transport in
industry, packaging and consumer areas were also significant. Variations
depended on raw material use, packaging and residue/waste
treatment.

Some observations were:

Different types and quantity of food eaten
and efficiency of the farm-to-fork food system means the environmental impact
of food varies by country and region.

The food system contributes about 28% of the
total greenhouse gas emissions in Sweden.

Environmental impacts of food are likely to
increase even if diets change as populations is increasing and food choices
are changing so achieving efficiencies in the food system as a whole is
essential.

Industrially prepared food sales are
incresing e.g. in Sweden sales of frozen, ready meals increased by 23% between
2000 and 2002 and sales of prepared potato products increased by 75% between
1990 and 2002.

Industrial food uses more packaging and
longer transport distances but energy use and wastage is not necessarily
higher in industrial processing than in the home. Less energy is used in large
batch cooking and heat recovery is possible. Food storage including freezing
is higher at the retail level than at home. Where the food is cooked may not
matter but fact that the consumer has to reheat the food has to be taken into
account.

Even home-made often requires industrial
processing e.g. milk is transported from a large highly automated dairy along
a chain to the retailer, wheat is milled in a modern mill, carrots and
potatoes are transported and sorted, cleaned and packed at a packer. Pigs and
cattle are slaughtered at large scale abbatoirs and may be transported to be
processed further to mince meat before being sent to the retailer.

Because agriculture is such a large part of
the environmental impact of the food chain, even small changes in raw material
use can make a difference.e.g. less loss due to peeling of the carrots and
potatoes. The biggest losses were for meat. If more of the animal were used
for food purpose, then each kilogram of meat would have less environmental
impact. In this study, some of the industrial meat by-product was used for
fuel offsetting oil use but more efficient uses could have been made of the
by-products for food.

Perhaps the most valuable comment made by the
authors is that of looking not at the food chain as it is today but what it
could be including changing systems such as agriculture, energy, waste and
sewage treatment.

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PINERIDGE FOOD
INC.: FOOD COMPANY LCA

As households and food services outsource food
preparation to food processers, energy use from commercial food processing
increases due to increased volume. Efficiencies to achieve environmental goals
become even more important for the ccrporate food sector. A presentation by
Dominic D’Amours, Director, Sustainable Development at the lifecycle conference
CYCLE2010 in Montreal outlines how using life cycle based environmental
assessment is part of the sustainability strategy at Pineridge Foods (Toronto,
Ontario). Pineridge has bakery and other food businesses. In 2007, it acquired
Gourmet Baker and Oakrun Farm Bakery.

The presentation addresses Gourmet Baker but
Oakrun uses over 2500 tonnes of packaging to pack bagels and muffins for Tim
Hortons and investigated improvements such as increasing the amount of product
per shipment and reusable containers.

The presentation outlines the various
components of environmental impacts of the Gourmet Baker lifecycle
including:

Supply Chain & Operation which includes
impacts of running the head office in Winnipeg and sub offices, business
travel, commuting as well impacts from farm to supplier to factory and the
transport in between.

Storage
& Distribution includes the Gourmet Baker Warehouse to the Customer
Distribution Centre to the store and all the transport in between.

Product Use. The consumer use of car to the
store to refrigeration to product baking if required to end of
life.

The climate change impact for 2008 was
allocated 13% for supply chain and operation, 86% storage and distribution and
1% product use. The climate impacts varied widely by raw materials, by type of
packaging material, and activities at different locations and
factories.

Some of the other observations
were:

Within the supply chain, major ingredients
such as canola oil, dairy, sugar, flour and eggs have the biggest
impact.

Within the plants, raw material,
transportation and energy consumption have the most impact.

Frozen storage of products has the most
impact on the company’s “footprint”.

Results may vary for different categories of
impact (e.g. climate, human health, ecosystem quality, nonrenewable energy,
and resource use). Some components may have lower (good) measures on one
impact but higher on others. The Customer Centre freezer had the highest
measure on many of the impacts but raw material had the highest impact on
ecosystem quality.

Head office contributed 1% of the
footprint.

In a chart comparing costs vs climate
impacts, packaging had the highest cost but low climate impact while transport
came second in cost and also second in climate impacts. Waste management,
infrastructure and business travel were low in both cost and climate
impact.

The data informed the Sustainability Strategy
Plan which aims to improve performance in:

green carriers for transport

manufacturing policy

development of key performance indicators and
life cycle assessment update

energy efficiency

waste management

culture and communication

carbon offsets

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****************************************************

FOOD WASTE
COMPOSTING: GREEN CONE

Comox Valley Regional District headquartered
in Courtney, British Columbia offered the Green Cone for sale for composting
household waste including waste not commonly recommended for home
composting.

Mostly home composters have been advised not
to compost meat, dairy, fat and egg shells. The most common reason has been that
animal-based products are more likely to attract animals although some animals
even carnivores like coyotes will eat vegetables if nothing more meaty is
available.

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management offered
Green Cone Food Digesters to divert not only fruit and vegetable scraps but also
"cooked and uncooked meats, fish and bones and dairy products along with other
food wastes such as bread and pasta." It is not suitable for yard
waste.

It could be that there are still good reasons
in some circumstance for not composting animal-based waste but on the whole
GallonLetter is happy to see this shift to recommending composting all food
waste at home. We have been doing this for many years using a different unit
(the Enviro-Cycle) which we like better than the Green Cone but it might be a
personal preference. Composting all food waste, rather than just the plant-based
food, means we can put the garbage out only when we need to e.g. every four to
eight weeks because there isn't enough volume to put out weekly. If there were
food waste in the garbage, it would become too smelly.

In addition to reducing waste to landfills,
among the benefits of having the garbage and recycling vehicles stop less
include less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions due to less congestion
in urban areas when trucks block traffic, less idling because the trucks don't
have to stop and load. Diesel trucks emit particulate matter which is of growing
concern for human health. Trucks use more fuel stopping and starting. Trucks
also make less noise when they don't have to stop and haul the containers
around. It would also be nice to think that less stopping reduces the physical
demand on the garbage collector.

Paid subscribers see link to
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here.

****************************************************

ENVIRONMENTAL
COMMISSIONER: ONTARIO'S ROLE IN BIODIVERSITY

While Canada agreed in 2010 to international
biodiversity targets to be achieved by 2020, the responsibility for achieving
those targets falls primarily on the provinces. The Ontario Environmental
Commissioner of Ontario says that without a strategy, the province won't be able
to halt the decline of plants and animals in Ontario. Many ministries have
responsibilities.

One of those related to the food theme of this
GallonLetter is the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs OMAFRA.
There are about 57,000 farming operations in
Ontario. The ministry's three
strategic priorities are:

1. Thriving Agriculture and Food
Sectors

2. Strong Rural Communities

3. Safe Food, Healthy Animals, Healthy
Environment.

Among the tools OMAFRA has available for
conservation and wildlife protection include:

The Environmental Farm Plan provides
subsidies for conservation. While many of the up to 23 areas a farmer could
decide to take action on could effect biodiviersity e.g. by reducing pollution
due to better handling of fertilizer or pesticides, a few are specific to
habitat and wildlife e.g. wetlands and wildlife ponds. GallonLetter notes that
this is a voluntary program which the federal Auditor General's office has
critized for lack of adequate review of results.

other incentives for ecological goods and
services provided by farmland such as extending the pilot Alternative Land Use
Services project.

controlling pollution through nutrient management.

enhancing wetlands through municipal drainage
projects.

along with the Ministry of the Environment
and Ministry of Natural Resources, OMAFRA can take biodiversity action under
the Canada-Ontario Agreement respecting the Great Lakes Basin
Ecosytem.

ECO says that in order to meet the targets for
biodiversity, OMAFRA should ensure that:

agricultural areas are managed sustainably to
conserve biodiversity

the genetic diversity of crops and livestock
are maintained. GallonLetter notes that destruction of live animals as
prevention to stop the spread of disease is also destroying valuable genetic
stock. Rare Breeds Canada tries to stop Canadian Food Inspection Agency from
killing rare and healthy herds and flocks as a preventive measure because the
loss of genetic stock is forever. Recently a campaign focussed on heritage
Shropshire sheep in Hastings County Ontario which may or may not have
links to a scrapie case in Alberta.

GallonLetter notes that farm association such
as the Ontario Federaion of Agriculture describe farmers as stewards of the
land. Obviously some farmers are and some aren't so it would be good to know how
the measure works out for OFA members as a whole. We sympathesize with
opposition to regulations which don't achieve results and put an unnecessary
burden on business but OFA's 2011 review doesn't sound that hopeful for
biodiversity initiatives. OFA has an Open for Business Working Group intent on
ensuring that "our farm businesses do not fall victim to regulations that
penalize farming practices in the name of conserviation and
preservation."

If you enjoy Gallon Environment Letter or find
it useful for your work or interests, may we recommend the GallonDaily report.
Found at http://www.gallondaily.com , GallonDaily provides short articles and reports on
topics of particular interest to green businesses. One article appears almost
every day Monday to Friday - we recommend visiting at least once a week. Our
real enthusiasts can also sign up for email notification as new articles are
posted.

Recent topics include:

Office workers may be exposed to
polyfluorinated chemicals

Dupont: health of business depends on energy
efficiency

US Government announces battery innovation
centre

UK industry pushes for green growth

Saskatchewan plans move to results-based
regulations

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GOODBYE LONG GUN REGISTRY, HELLO LONG PIG REGISTRY

Traceability of food has been a component of
organic food for a long time but since disease outbreaks such as BSE in cattle,
food poisoning in meat, leafy greens, canteloupes, nuts, etc and deliberate food
fraud such as adulteration by melamine and lead, traceability of food products
throughout the food chain is becoming more common. A satirical piece in Small
Farms Canada concluded that regulations for tracing pigs, now being enacted by
Agriculture Canada, could be just as onerous as the long gun registry the
federal government was so eager to get rid of. The author Al Pope raises pigs
and chickens on a very small farm in the southern Yukon. He writes a weekly
column called Nordicity in the Yukon News, which first published this call to
Canadians, "Canadians, reist! Don't let your freedoms be trampled into pig
poop."

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